Shiney lies low

This is a quiet phase in Shiney Ahuja’s life. Apart from his next two releases, Hijack and Har Pal, the actor has no shows, endorsements or a film in his kitty. “This is a conscious move,” he says. “I do intelligent films that require me to get into the skin of the character. If I were doing frivolous films, maybe I would’ve had the time to invest in shows.” As for endorsements, he is open to them but “nothing exciting” has come his way, he adds.

Different strokesThe actor associated with off-beat cinema says that despite popular perception, he has not been stereotyped. He feels he should be typecast if 20 years later, he has the same kind of films behind him. “Har Pal, which will release in November, is a light-hearted romance and I will be doing a variety of films in future,” he says.

However, he is not open to doing the kind of comedies being made these days. “I don’t think my audience wants to see me do cheap comedy. Comedy can also be sensible. I want to do the kind of comedies Amitabh Bachchan has done —Chupke Chupke, Amar Akbar Anthony...”

Danger zoneIn his next release, Hijack, he plays the maintenance chief of Chandigarh airport, where a hijacked flight with his daughter on board lands for refuelling. He says that the best part was doing the stunts. “Coming from an army background, I was into adventure sports and that really helped. When I look back on the experience, it was great fun but the stunts were scary. Imagine hanging from a chopper going at 100 miles.”

Blogging timeWhile dismissing the current round of rumours about him, he says that he is not attending parties to change his ‘reserved’ image, nor did he recently park his car outside a multiplex to see people go in and come out. “I have to have a psychological disorder to do that.”

Although Shiney says that reports of his link-ups and him getting cosy on the sets with actresses do not bother his wife and daughter, he’s thinking of starting a blog to get even. “I recently started looking for a house in Mumbai to bring my parents here and it is being reported that I have bought the house and my parents are staying there. I am contemplating starting a blog where I will lash out against such reports.”